A timepiece for indicating digital display of time information such as hour, minute, and second, and calendar information such as date, days of the week, month, and year, by use of a liquid crystal display panel, has been in widespread use for wrist watches and clocks, provided with a crystal oscillation circuit.
There has also been in use a combination timepiece wherein an analog display indicating time information by the hands of the watch is used in combination with digital display indicating time information and calendar information in numbers and letters.
Further, there has been proposed an analog watch for selectively displaying markers in various patterns, or for displaying simulated hands for an hour hand, a minute hand, and a second hand, by making up the dial thereof based on a liquid crystal display panel (refer to, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-open S 54-153066).
In a conventional liquid crystal display panel for displaying time information and calendar information, as in a watch or clock, a liquid crystal cell filled with liquid crystals is sandwiched between two transparent substrates each having an electrode on an inner facing surface thereof, and an upper polarizing film and a lower polarizing film are disposed, respectively, on the external opposite surface of each transparent substrate. If an electric field is applied to the liquid crystals by applying a voltage to the pair of electrodes on the transparent substrates holding the liquid crystal cell therebetween, the optical property of the liquid crystals is changed, thereby locally controlling transmission and absorption of light falling on the liquid crystal display panel such that a predetermined display is effected.
Each of the upper polarizing film and the lower polarizing film is a polarizing film absorbing the light linearly polarized in the direction orthogonal to the transmission axis thereof.
In the case of a watch using the conventional liquid crystal display panel described above, time information and calendar information are displayed in dark against a white background in the normally white mode that is common.
However, by simply displaying time information and calendar information in dark against the white background as described in the foregoing, neither variation in design nor fun of use can be offered, leading to rapid decline in product popularity among consumers. Probably as a result, consumption of digital watches has recently been on the decline, and neither combination timepieces nor analog watches with liquid crystal display panels have received market acceptance.
The invention has been developed in light of the present situation as described, and an object thereof is to provide a timepiece (watch or clock) capable of providing variation in design while indicating digital display or analog display by use of a liquid crystal display panel.